Raipur, May 1: Congress leader Sachin Pilot on Friday said his party will launch a door-to-door campaign and organise a protest in Chhattisgarh to expose the BJP’s “attempt to mislead” women on the reservation issue.
Speaking to reporters at the state Congress office here after chairing meetings with party MLAs and newly appointed district and block unit presidents, Pilot, AICC in-charge for Chhattisgarh, alleged that Thursday’s special session of the state assembly was aimed at “giving effect to hypocrisy and falsehood.”
“I have been saying this and even Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi had said in the House (Lok Sabha) that the women’s reservation bill was passed three years ago. The BJP unnecessarily held back its implementation….under the pretext of reservation, they wanted to push delimitation before the census, which the entire opposition opposed,” he said.
The Congress remains committed to women’s reservation and would fully support its implementation on the basis of the current strength of the Lok Sabha, Pilot added.
Accusing the BJP of pursuing “vested interests,” he said the ruling party tried to link delimitation with reservation for political gains, but its intentions were exposed. “No matter how much publicity they do, the truth is that the BJP delayed reservation for three years and is now using it as a cover for delimitation,” he alleged.
Congress workers will go “door to door” across the state to highlight the BJP’s failures and to counter its “attempts to mislead women”, Pilot said.
The Chhattisgarh assembly on Thursday passed a resolution seeking immediate implementation of a one-third reservation for women in Parliament and state legislative assemblies after the completion of delimitation.
The Congress boycotted the proceedings just before it was passed.
Referring to rising petroleum prices, Pilot said Rahul Gandhi had warned that the government would wait until assembly elections before increasing prices.
“It appears the government delayed the hike to avoid electoral loss. Now there has been a steep increase, which will burden the common man and disrupt household budgets,” he said.
If price adjustment had been made earlier, the increase might have been gradual, but the delay led to a sharper hike which will further fuel inflation, Pilot claimed.
The meeting at the Rajiv Bhawan on Friday was part of organisational strengthening efforts, and discussions were held with MLAs and party leaders on future strategy, the Congress leader said.
He also accused the BJP-led state government of acting arbitrarily in matters such as land acquisition, deforestation and allocation of mining and industrial projects to “select entities”.
A mega protest will be held soon in the state against the BJP, particularly on the women’s reservation issue, he announced.
